You're (Not) the One
by Jupiter Queen
Summary: One accidental make-out; two people with sudden feelings. One misunderstanding; two people who may have to deal with more than just a milestone. And then there's "The One." (Based off "Great Expectations" from Season 4.)
1. Chapter 1: That Kiss

_**Warning**: This story will contain some profanity._

_A/N: First of all, this has nothing at all to do with the 7teen story series that I'm writing. It's totally free of any major OCs and centered around the original gang of six. I've thought about this idea for a while and I finally decided to write it out. It will most likely be five to six chapters, though that might change. _

_Second, this is sort of an alternate/What If? version of the season 4 episode "Great Expectations." It's alternate in that Jude's cousin Jade visits, but what she does while she's there is different. Plus, this was the perfect opportunity to write about a new couple forming within the gang. Only one event of season 4 takes place earlier for the purposes of this and that is Jen and Travis's breakup._

* * *

Chapter 1: That Kiss

_Why am I __coming__ here again?_ Wyatt asked himself as he looked into the Galleria Mall's mini-golf course, despite knowing _exactly_ why he was there. It had been about a week since pop singer Kylie Smylie blew through the mall (and Wyatt's life) like a whirlwind. He felt something for her, not only because both of them were sixteen year old musicians–him being an aspiring one and her being an accomplished one–but because they fit together like the beam between two eighth notes on his sheet music. It put a damper on his spirits that she couldn't date him and vice versa because of her father–infamous wrestler Sergeant Beef, whom he was quick to comply with–but maybe it was for the better. Could he _really_ keep up with dating Kylie, a major teen sensation? He would just be labeled as "that schmo with a guitar who somehow began dating her" anyways. His non-stellar track record with women and want for getting over her led Jonesy to invite him to his mini-golf make out night (which he was holding behind his boss's back). He recalled Jonesy's every word.

"To get over one chick, you gotta go to first base with a new one," Jonesy had said to him earlier.

Wyatt had taken his advice with a grain of salt. Jonesy did have a point, but presented it in a–for lack of a better word–crass way.

He now stood in the surprisingly long line of people waiting to make out with that special someone. Turning around, he spotted that cute redhead in the blue tube top from Albatross and Finch, Cassandra. He couldn't help sighing after catching sight of her. In fact, he couldn't help sighing _every_ time he walked by Albatross and Finch and caught sight of her. He smiled at her and, to his surprise, she did the same.

_ Maybe this night won't be so bad after all_, he thought.

* * *

"Remind me why I'm here again," Jen said to Caitlin.

"Because it's a great way for you to get over _you-know-who_," Caitlin said.

_You-know-who _was obviously Travis, whom Jen had broken up with days ago. He was at long last able to spend some time there in Toronto, but whenever he tried to devote some of his downtime to Jen, things quickly became a meet-and-greet for fans. But never for her. It became so much to micromanage that they decided to part ways. There was a sense of amicability in their words, but their ship had sailed. Or in the Titanic's case, rammed into an iceberg and sunk. Whatever the case, she felt that Caitlin had a point. It was about time she stopped moping over a guy and got back on that "dating horse," as Caitlin had oddly mentioned during one of their daily conversations.

If there was anything for Jen to be remotely happy about, it was that Caitlin seemed to be pretty ecstatic about this make-out night her stepbrother was holding. She already had her sights on her newest "the one."

Caitlin let out a heavenly sigh as she glanced over her shoulder at Bradford, some guy she had her eye on for a while. "He is _soo_ cute, don't you think so?" she asked, snapping Jen out of her trance.

"Yeah, totally," Jen replied, devoid of enthusiasm. Her body was present, but her mind was elsewhere.

Caitlin had a sixth sense when it came to people's emotions, especially her best friends' emotions. "Jen, I know you're still kinda bummed over _you-know-who_–"

"–Travis," Jen interjected.

She was unfazed. "But there's more to do than mope over him, especially when there's Kevin from your physics class over there." She nodded subtly at said guy for emphasis.

Jen was certainly back in reality now, surprise plastered on her face. "How did you know about him?"

"Oh, I _totally_ saw you glance at him." This further proved her sharp eyes weren't just for fashion.

The line moved forward over time and Caitlin was now able to approach Jonesy. She handed him five dollars and asked, "Hey, Jonesy, think I can hook up with Bradford?"

Jonesy took the money and penciled in something on his clipboard. "Of course. Meet him in the green frog at 8:30."

"Thanks, Jonesy!" Caitlin squealed in joy. She gave Jen a reassuring look before scurrying to the giant frog.

Jen, more timid than bubbly Caitlin, said, "Can you set me up with Kevin? I need someone new after what happened with _you-know-who_." It didn't take her long to realize that she sounded exactly like Caitlin. _Does that make me a hypocrite?_ she asked herself.

Again, he took the five dollars she handed him and penciled her in. "Sure, anything for the step-sis." He looked at his clipboard for a good moment. "Meet him in the giant windmill at 8:40."

She smiled for the first time that day. "Thanks!"

"No problem at all." Recalling Caitlin's words from a few days ago, he said behind an all-out laugh, "Now get ready to ride that dating horse, cowgirl!"

Jen rolled her eyes. _How many people are going to say that to me?_

* * *

_Deep breath, Wyatt_, he repeated to himself, now approaching Jonesy in line.

"Wyatt! Glad you could make it down here, bro!" he greeted with a satisfied smirk on his face. Finally ready to play some tonsil hockey with a babe, huh?"

That was Jonesy, alright. As tactless as ever. There was tact within him _somewhere_, which he used at opportune moments. This moment wasn't quite one of them.

"Yeah, something like that," Wyatt replied while handing Jonesy five dollars.

He was too overwhelmed by the success of this night to hear Wyatt's response. In less than an hour, he had made over two hundred dollars. If he did this for a couple more hours without getting caught, he could make twice that amount! While thinking about the "sweet coinage" he could make, Jonesy cluelessly checked something off on his clipboard.

"Do you think you can hook me up with _her?"_ Wyatt asked, pointing to Cassandra.

Jonesy glanced at her and she continued to smile aimlessly. Maybe she did that to anything and anyone who looked her way. "A hottie like that's just what you need, my friend." He ripped off a sticky note and handed it to him. "Meet her in the giant windmill at 8:40," he spoke without rechecking his list.

"Thanks, Jonesy. I owe you one." Wyatt then walked off.

He called out, "No problem, bro!" Jonesy crossed his arms as he continued to smirk. "I am _good_." He perked up when he saw a more than familiar and friendly face approach him.

Nikki rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "I see _you're_ being productive."

With his hand pressed against his chest, he begged to differ. "Why, yes I am. I'm giving the less-loved a chance to be loved."

"By making out in dark mini-golf obstacles."

He nodded as if it was matter of fact.

"Whatever."

"Hey, I'm just helping the mall community with a little romance." His naughty eyes focused on her. "You know, you could get a little bit of that romance when this whole thing's over."

Despite her cheeks flushing powder pink, she kept her composure. "We'll see about that, won't we?"

He stepped closer to her. "We will."

She gave him a teasing look before walking away, but stopped to say, "Don't get yourself into too much trouble here. And I might take you up on that offer later." With that, Nikki walked away with a switch in her hips–a switch that he admired.

_I swear this girl's "the one,"_ he thought with a stupid grin on his face. She could handle his flirtatious behavior and absolutely frustrate him and make him go crazy all in the same day, but she was worth it in every way. His moment of great thoughts about her was abrupt, however, as more eager customers were lined up in front of him.

* * *

Wyatt looked at his watch. It was 8:40, also known as _now or never_.

He walked into the pitch-black windmill and, like the eager and equally lonely teens before Jonesy, could hardly contain his excitement. His spine instinctively straightened when he heard someone stumble into the windmill. His ears detected the girl's every footstep. Closer and closer _and closer_ she became, eventually throwing her hands on his chest to make sure she was headed in the right direction. Why did he feel his lungs tightening instead of expanding like they were supposed to? Oh, right–_this girl was touching his chest._ It almost made his heart stop.

Once her lips brushed against his, he regained all control of his body. This kiss was electric and sent sparks through both of them. Courage took over him as he wrapped his arms around her waist and she awkwardly (but adorably) threw her arms around his neck. He almost asked himself, "Kylie, who?" because this girl made him forget her. Maybe even all the other girls he had dated, but that would have been a stretch. Just before the kiss unraveled, he gently bit her bottom lip, not sure if he wanted it to end.

After being able to breathe, the girl giggled. "That was amazing, Kevin."

Wyatt's stomach dropped to his feet and his eyes almost fell out their sockets. That voice was too damn familiar. "Who's Kevin?" He began hyperventilating. _"JEN?!"_

She pushed away from his once-comforting embrace, yelling, _"WYATT?!"_

This couldn't be happening to her. Shaking her head in extreme disbelief and fighting the urge to crawl into a grave and die, she darted out of the windmill and passed Caitlin along the way, who was too happy making out with Bradford, outside of the green frog that Jonesy set them up in, to even notice her. Jen ran into the nearest washroom to collect herself, if she ever could.

Nearly comatose, she repeated to herself, _I k-kissed W-Wyatt. I kissed_ Wyatt.


	2. Chapter 2: Questions

Chapter 2: Questions

For Jen, the next day arrived painfully slow–the being-stuck-with-rusty-needles kind of painful. Walking through the food court had never been this hard until now, upon knowing she would see Wyatt. It was foolproof; the whole gang gathered at the Big Squeeze at least once per day. If they made no eye contact at all, the others would know something was up. They knew each other all too well. Knowing each other too well was part of what threw Wyatt and Jen into this situation in the first place.

If there was anything aside from the awkwardness that would be noticed, Caitlin would notice the bags hanging under her eyes. No sleep was gotten last night. She spent half the night lying awake in bed and replaying every event in her head.

Caitlin's words. Kevin. Wyatt. The kiss. _Wyatt_. The kiss _with_ Wyatt. His tongue. His taste. His scent. _Wyatt, dammit_.

Her sneakers dragged across the ground and her heart pounded with every step, inching closer to the Lemon. After a hard blink, she noticed something. Jonesy was present, his arm thrown around Nikki's shoulders as usual. Caitlin stood in the giant lemon, reading through another issue of _Teen Glam_. But Wyatt's seat was empty. He wasn't there! (Then again, Jude wasn't either.)

She took a deep breath and thought, _Thank, God!_ but she was thrown off by a simple question she wasn't prepared for.

"So, how was the tonsil hockey?" Jonesy asked.

"What?" she responded, her skin crawling.

"Tongue wrestling. Tonsil hockey. Making out, Jen." If he had to explain it any further, he would have to spell it out for her.

"He … Er, it was okay."

Caitlin noticed Jen's tone and words differed from her expectations. "You don't sound so happy. I hope he didn't turn out to be a jerk."

Her stomach began to bubble. "No, he wasn't. I just... didn't feel that chemistry with him."

"Oh, that kinda sucks," Caitlin replied. She loved discussing love, dating, kissing, romance, and hot guys, but not when something she believed to be juicy ran dry. "I bet he isn't a good kisser."

_He's better than you think._ She paused. _What am I thinking? This is _Wyatt_ I'm talking about. Not some random hottie. But Wyatt _is_ cute in an R&B-singer kind of way. Okay,_ stop_, Jen._

Nikki narrowed her eyes at Jen. "You okay?"

She gave a sheepish grin. "Yeah, I'm totally fine. Just thinking of what's due for chemistry class."

"Jen, it's spring break," Nikki reminded.

A light chuckle escaped her lips. "Right. I guess I forgot." Her eyes darted in different directions to escape Nikki's and Caitlin's brief but curious stares. Something wasn't right in her observations, catching a glimpse of puffy, brown afro-dreads that were uniquely Wyatt's. Her words as quick as she rose from her seat, she said, "I gotta go to work. Coach'll kill me if I'm late. Later!" It wasn't her leaving for work so quickly that was odd. That was the norm some days. It was that she walked in the wrong direction–the direction opposite from Wyatt–that only added to Nikki's and Caitlin's confusion.

Wyatt sat down as his cheeks returned to their normal dark brown color. They turned deep red after catching a glimpse of Jen while she left. He still had no clue of how to feel. All he could think about was how great a kisser she was and felt wrong for thinking so. One thing was for sure: their friendship was in a state of limbo until some contact could be made. He found himself thinking, _Do I _like_ Jen?_

It was a good thing that Jude showed up when he did, giving Wyatt time to stop thinking and start listening. Interestingly enough, there was a young girl beside him that looked like a clone of him. With that messy blonde hair, backwards baseball cap, and graphic tee, she was a "Judette" in the making.

"'Sup, dudes and dudettes. This is my cousin Jade. She's gonna be with me and _los parentos_ while her _parentos_ are in a town called Mexico for a week."

Nikki laughed, followed by a snort. "You might wanna brush up on your geography, Jude. And your Spanish, too."

Jonesy laughed as well, then looked at Jade. "I haven't seen you in a while, Jadester"–he paused–"Don't you owe me five dollars?"

Her cheeks flushed pink. "Gonesy! I mean, _Jonesy_."

He explained to the others, "Gonesy's what she used to call me."

Jade continued to gaze at him and blush, oblivious to everyone else around her.

* * *

Jen stared at her white sneakers while making her way back to the Lemon for her lunch break. This whole Wyatt thing threw off her concentration at work, causing already-overbearing Coach Halder to put her to more work and give one five-minute penalty. (For one of the hardest-working employees there, she received an awful lot of penalties.) Luckily she spoke up by telling him she was having "girl issues" and he let her off for lunch early. That was one of the only things going right thus far. She took a seat on a yellow stool outside the giant lemon, looking down as she traced imaginary circles on the counter with her finger. Caitlin immediately stopped her work and tended to her.

"What's the matter? You look pretty upset about something."

Not looking up, though stopping her circle-tracing, she said, "Cait, I've gotta tell you something, but please don't judge me."

Caitlin pointed to her lemon hat, saying, "I'm wearing this on my head–I _can't_ judge others. So what's up?"

After taking a deep breath, she revealed, "I didn't kiss Kevin last night"–cue Caitlin looking surprised–"I... I kissed... _Wyatt!_"

She looked even more surprised, letting out a huge gasp. "You kissed Wyatt?!" she asked a little louder than she had intended to.

"Shh! Not so loud!"

She placed a hand over her mouth, then lowered it. "Sorry. But Wyatt?!"

"I know! I am _beyond_ mortified."

Now on her lunch break, Nikki approached her friends, especially after hearing some commotion from the two of them. Leaning on the counter, she asked "What's up with the dramatics?"

Caitlin spoke in a quieter voice than earlier. "Jen kissed _Wyatt_ last night!"

Her brown eyes widened. "No way! I knew something was up with you two!"

Slightly shifting the topic, Caitlin asked, "So how did this whole thing happen? You two wanted to make out with, like, completely different people."

Jen threw her arms up. "I have no idea! Jonesy must have wrote something down wrong on that clipboard."

Nikki and Jonesy were on good terms right now, especially after making out when the mini-golf make-out event was over, but she was willing to put that on hold for a friend. "If you want me to, I'll kick his ass for screwing stuff up," she said with a smile on her face.

Jen smiled back. "Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I'll get him back for that later." Her smile turned into a grimace. "What I need to do is figure out this whole Wyatt thing."

"You have to talk to him sooner or later," Caitlin said, "or else it's gonna get more awkward in the next few days."

Jen glanced at Nikki, expecting a slightly different response from her.

"Blondie's right, Jen."

She winced at the idea of talking to him so soon. "I don't know, guys. Can't I just avoid him for the next week and pretend nothing's wrong?" She knew she didn't mean what she said. There was no way that logic would work at all.

"How long can you _really_ go without talking to Wyatt?"

Jen went silent. Nikki had a valid point, a very valid one indeed.

"See, you don't even know. It's all up to you, but just know it takes two to kiss."

Nikki's last words on the subject (for now) left Jen in a deeper state of thought. _She's right. But do I _like_ him now? Am I _supposed_ to?_

* * *

At Burger McFlipsters, the sound of beef patties sizzling on the grill filled Wyatt's ears. Of course, his brain was more or less fried like one of those patties since the kiss with Jen. Nothing about their friendship and interactions had really made him think until then. With each flip of his spatula, his thoughts shifted topics while still keeping focus on her. The patties sizzled again, being cooked on the other side. The sizzles reminded him of what the kiss felt like. _It was so hot_, he thought before feeling sort of dirty about the ordeal. _No, that's wrong_. _Jen is my friend… Right?_

The longer the burgers sat on the grill to cook, the longer the thought resonated within him. Were they just friends anymore? Were they now (or on the road to becoming) something more? _Could_ they be more than friends?

_ Was it this confusing for Jonesy and Nikki? _The two of them served as a great reference for friendship-turned-romance right now, more than they knew. _If they could become something more, can __Jen and I be__? _Could _Jen and I be?_

It was safe to say that Wyatt was hung up on her and, knowing her personality, he figured she was as well. This didn't give him any confidence to face and discuss this with her, however. He was still scared that things wouldn't be the same. Not for the same reasons that–again, great reference–Jonesy and Nikki were originally scared. It wasn't that he worried about disrupting what the gang already had between them. He worried about losing Jen as a best friend. Still, he couldn't help but wonder about the idea of _them_–_Jen and Wyatt_, not _Jen and her friend Wyatt_.

"You're gonna die in seven days!" someone shouted in the creepiest voice imaginable.

Wyatt nearly flipped a burger into the air. Panicked, he turned around and expected the worst. He should've known who it was. He should have known better than to get freaked out over nothing.

Pointing and laughing at him were his two best friends Jonesy and Jude.

"Dude, you should've seen the look on your face!" Jonesy shouted during fits of uncontrollable laughter.

Jude hunched over, more than he normally did, and laughed his ass off.

The annoyed expression on Wyatt's face matched his tone. "Because you two are _so_ funny." (He and Nikki bonded through their use of sarcasm, though she was much snarkier than him.) Aside from their occasional immaturity, he trusted Jonesy and Jude with serious things, which led him to his next decision. "Do you guys mind if I get something off my chest?"

Jonesy replied, "We all know you wash your hands in the washrooms because you pee on them, Wyatt." Despite his uncalled-for humor, he could tell when something gnawed at one of his friends. Jonesy wasn't _that_ insensitive, sometimes. "But seriously, what's up?"

"So last night, you didn't set me up with Cassandra." Jonesy and Jude leaned in, wondering who he kissed on accident instead. Wyatt bit his lower lip, wondering what their reactions would be when they found out the truth behind the kiss. "You set me up with Jen!"

Their reactions were the same, like deer in headlights.

"Whoa, bro!" Jude exclaimed before chuckling at his unintentional rhyme. "You and Jen? As in 'our best Betty since kindergarten, Jen'?"

Wyatt nodded.

Jonesy was shocked. Thankfully, it didn't seem like Wyatt was pissed at him making a mistake in last night's scheduling. The three of them stood in silence until he thought of something. "How was the kiss?" It would have been an odd question in any other instance (since Jen was his step-sister), but this situation begged it.

For Wyatt to have been replaying the kiss for the past night, the right words to say surely escaped him.

"Earth to Wyatt! Lights on, but nobody's home!" Jonesy said impatiently.

He spoke once he managed to put a sentence together. "The kiss was _perfect_ and unexpected." She_ was perfect_ _and unexpected_, he thought after the fact.

"A perfect kiss with Jen? Didn't see that coming," Jonesy replied, with Jude nodding in agreement.

Jude asked, "So how do you feel about her?"

"I don't even know how to feel. I can't even think of her without thinking of her as something more." He didn't dare say _girlfriend_, not until he knew for sure. He sighed. "Jonesy, how did you know you wanted to be with Nikki?"

He shrugged. "I just always knew. She's put up with my shit since–well–_forever_. And you guys know how much we flirted, so it was just a matter of time before we really fell for each other." His phone vibrated and checked it, only to find a flirty text from Nikki. He grinned at the screen.

It was refreshing to hear Jonesy speak with sincerity for once. Wyatt could hardly recall a time where he talked about a girl and _didn't_ mention her being under "the Jonesy charm." That's how he knew Nikki was the girl for Jonesy. That's how he realized Jen might be the one for _him_. _We _have_ been best friends forever. And Jen__'s always been cute..._

"You sound really in love with Nikki." He sighed again, this time happier with his newfound perception of Jen. "And I think I like Jen."

Jude, being the voice of reason, said, "You've gotta talk to her or else she won't know how you feel."

Jonesy, texting a response to his girlfriend, agreed with Jude.

Wyatt panicked–forgetting that in order to confess his feelings he would actually have to talk to her _face-to-face_–and flung a half-cooked patty onto his boss's head.

Jonesy and Jude stifled laughs as Tim approached Wyatt, who gave an abashed look.

A deadpan expression on Tim's face, he asked, "Wyatt, can I speak to you for a moment?"

Jonesy and Jude decided it was best for them to leave as soon as Jonesy said, "We're gonna meet Jade at the arcade now. Later."

They left and Wyatt now faced his boss, who grew more agitated by the second.

His nervous smile increased in size and his voice faltered. "This'll be a funny story to tell at dinner parties. Right, Tim?"

* * *

As soon as Jonesy and Jude strolled into the mall's arcade, they found Jade playing some sci-fi game.

"Woohoo! I got the high score on 'Humanoid Invasion!'" she exclaimed.

Jude chuckled. "Move over, little cuz. I want in on this." Anytime he and Jade were together, they challenged each other to a game–any game–and battle to see who was the better-gaming cousin.

"Multiplayer mode?" she asked.

"You know it, bra." As soon as the game launched in multiplayer mode, the two stood side by side, rapidly pressing buttons and swiveling joysticks. While getting into the swing of the game, Jude asked, "So Jonesy, how're things going with Nikki?" Every once in a while, he would ask out of sheer curiosity and because he liked hearing how happy his friends were together.

Jonesy placed his phone back into his pocket after sending her another text in their flirty conversation. "We're going strong." He grinned like an idiot. "Just between me and you, I'm so in love with her. I want to take her out to dinner and tell her, maybe this weekend."

"That's music to my ears, bro. I always knew blue and purple belonged together." Jude thought blue a little deeper, his mouth hanging agape in the process. "I've always wondered: why is blue so _blue_?"

Jonesy laughed at him. _I swear he's high for life._

Jade's focus was less on the game and more on the conversation she witnessed. _Jonesy's into _her?_And he loves her? __That's not gonna happen, but how can I stop it? _A devilish smirk tugged at the corners of her lips when an idea came to mind, possibly involving some of her week's allowance from her parents.

_She'll be out of the picture and Gonesy will _so_ be mine._


	3. Chapter 3: Special Girl

_A/N: As a quick announcement, I have an unofficial "soundtrack" track listing to this fanfic on my profile. I always make playlists based on my stories, and I selected the best songs that represent this fiction. Check it out if you're interested. xoxo_

* * *

Chapter 3: Special Girl

While Caitlin went on about her night with Bradford, Nikki grinned at her phone. She and Jonesy had been texting each other flirty messages for a half hour now and with each one her fondness of him grew. She was too stubborn to admit anything more for him than just being "really into" Jonesy, but she was in love with him. And she hoped he would feel the same way about her when reading her every text message and hearing her speak to him and reacting to her kisses. She really did. Sometimes she felt like Caitlin when it came to this whole "love" thing, but it was worth it.

"...I think Jen totally likes Wyatt," Caitlin said as Nikki decided to pay attention to her monologue.

She put her cellphone back into her pocket. "Definitely. I think they need to talk about what happened or else she'll keep avoiding it. Trust me, I know."

"You're right! This is, like, the fate of two of our closest friends! If they don't talk anymore, that'd be terrible!" Caitlin perfected the ability of jumping to conclusions.

Nikki rolled her eyes. _She's so overdramatic._ "Really, fate?"

"Okay, maybe not _fate_, but you know what I mean! Oh, Jen and Wyatt would be so cute together! Don't you think so?"

Though less ecstatic in contrast with Caitlin, she agreed. "I mean, they make sense when you think about them. Their personalities _do_ fit together."

"I know right? They'd totally balance each other out." After thinking things out, she asked, "So how are we gonna get them to speak to each other?"

Nikki smirked mischievously. She was crafty when it came to devising plans. "I know _exactly_ how to do it." She leaned over the Big Squeeze's counter to whisper her idea to Caitlin. "Listen..."

* * *

Whenever Coach Halder wasn't watching her like a hawk, Jen rested her head on the counter near the cash register. Feelings for a friend were harder to deal with than she originally believed. _If this is what Nikki went through for Jonesy, then I don't know how she did it._ Her mind was running in circles for Wyatt and her body couldn't keep up.

Maybe there was a chance for them. Maybe _h__e'd_ be the guy for her that the others she dated _hadn't_ _been_. He wasn't Cory Halder and Charlie Dobbs and Smithy and Travis Gibson. He was Wyatt Williams–a lifelong friend, a great musician, a shoulder to lean on, and now something more if he would allow it. If _she_ would allow it.

She pulled her phone out of her white and periwinkle skirt's pocket and stared at it. _Should I call him?_ She shuddered at the thought. _Never mind. It's __hasn't even been a day since the kiss.__ Maybe we need to let things blow over first. _With that last thought, she shoved her phone into her pocket. After a day of thinking, her feelings could grow or diminish, though she wasn't sure she wanted them to diminish.

While Jen contemplated mixed emotions, Caitlin and Nikki neared the Penalty Box, ready to fake some emotions.

"You know what you're doing, right?" asked Nikki, who raised a brow at Caitlin.

She nodded confidently. "Trust me, I've got this."

It was time to get their act together quickly. The Penalty Box was right in front of them and they could see Jen, deep in thought, from a distance. Caitlin found her lucky mascara in her well-organized purse–the same mascara she used in her act to help Jen skip work that one summer day–and promptly poked herself in both eyes with it. Aside from a little pain, tears welled quickly and she could feel her makeup running. In a deja vu moment, she smirked mischievously at Nikki and she smirked back.

Nikki walked into the sports store with Caitlin's weepy face resting upon her shoulders. Her sobs were loud and certainly grabbed Jen's attention, running over to see what was wrong.

"Oh my gosh! Caitlin, are you okay?"

When her response was more sobs, Nikki chimed in. "She's been crying for a while and won't tell me why."

Caitlin lifted her head from Nikki's shoulders to reveal a very mascara-streaked face and her pixie-cut blonde hair was disheveled. She threw her arms around Jen, hugged her tightly, and cried harder.

Nikki couldn't help but to look amused. The girl was gifted, that's for sure.

"B-B-Bradford dumped me! I t-thought he was _the one!"_ Caitlin shouted in between sniffles and harder sobs. He didn't _really_ dump her. They were supposed to go on an official first date tomorrow evening! But Jen didn't know this, making Caitlin's big scene all the more convincing.

Despite hearing "the one" millions of times, Jen comforted her hurting friend. "It's okay, Cait. You deserve better anyway." Caitlin only strengthened her "death grip" on her, causing Jen to lose some of her breath. Her voice cracked, "You're strong for a size zero." She asked herself, _Is it me or am I going numb?_

Caitlin, hanging her head over Jen's shoulders now, could see her cellphone extending out of her pocket. Carefully, she lowered her hands and managed to grab it without Jen realizing it.

Jen managed to escape Caitlin's hold and said, "I'll be right back. I've got some tissues in my purse." With that, she ran to the back of the store and near the employee lockers to grab her purse.

Nikki laughed. "You're good at this."

Caitlin's airy giggle contrasted Nikki's snort-filled laugh. "I _did_ wanna be a soap actress at some point."

Their focus shifted immediately to Jen's phone because, after all, their main goal was to get Jen and Wyatt to meet face to face. And for that to happen, there would have to be a text.

"What should we send?" Caitlin asked, her fingers on the keys. "I didn't think we would get this far."

Nikki shrugged. "Just ask him to meet Jen at Grind Me or something."

"Okay!" Caitlin sent out the text and, within seconds, got a response from Wyatt.

_Sounds great. Meet you there in an hour._

Caitlin bounced up and down in glee. "Yay! Jen and Wyatt'll be together!"

Nikki appeared satisfied. Jen may not have known it now, but she was certainly going to be at Grind Me whether she wanted to be or not.

Jen returned shortly afterwards with her tissues in hand and Caitlin broke out into tears again, rushing towards her. Again, she pulled her tight. "Oh, Jen! I'm so g-glad y-you and Nikki are h-here for me!" Through her very convincing faux tears, Caitlin smiled knowingly at Nikki.

"Operation: Friend Hookup" was now in effect.

* * *

Jade left one of the mall's many shoe stores, Elevate, with bad intentions in mind for a cute guy's relationship. In her grip was the sweetest pair of shoes a guy could ask for–a guy like Jonesy, for instance. With a little bit of the money her parents gave her for her stay in Toronto, she had come up with the perfect plan to get "Gonesy" to be hers. It would probably be a bit of a waiting game, but it would be _so_ worth the trouble. Entering the food court, she made her way towards the Lemon. Nobody in the gang was at their table, making it the perfect time to give Jonesy his gift and wait for part one of her plan to take effect.

Was this (one-sided) thing she had for Jonesy illicit? Yes. On so many levels, actually. Would that stop her? Not at all. She was smarter than the average ten year old. More cunning and able to get her way through a little bit of charm and plenty of logic.

Sitting covertly at a more distant and emptier table, Jade saw Jonesy strolling his way to the table. It was time for things to get more interesting from here on out.

He stared at the table, something very obvious being different. That shoe box on the table definitely wasn't an everyday thing. Curious, he decided to take a look inside and gasped at the contents of the box.

"I've wanted these shoes forever!" Forever really was a couple of weeks, the shoes not being available for a long time yet. He held a sneaker in the air like Rafiki holding a baby Simba. "But how did–" A gift tag underneath the shoe caught his attention. He grabbed and read it aloud. _"__To: Jonesy, from: your special girl?"_

This gift was great but there were quite a few questions on his mind. _Who_ was this "special girl" and _why_ was she his "special girl?" Nikki never knew he wanted these shoes. The only person he remembered mentioning these shoes to was Jude when they were at the arcade earlier. One thing was for sure: Nikki could _not_ see what was written on the tag at all costs. She was the most skeptical person he knew, not to mention the closest person to him, meaning that she would know something was up if he acted more coy than usual.

He looked at the shoes again. _Maybe I can keep them if I get rid of the tag_, he thought, not willing to part with them just for Nikki. It was the tag he'd do away with. He ripped it well enough (for his standards). Just as he put the final rip in the tag, a hand touched the back of his neck, making his smooth skin bumpy and the blue hairs on his neck rise.

"H-hey, babe!" he exclaimed while ambushing Nikki by pulling her into a warm embrace, in effort to keep her suspicions low.

Nikki was taken aback. Sure, they had exchanged flirty texts hours ago, but she didn't know that Jonesy was still in that mood. Then again, this was _Jonesy_. Registering that his body was now pressed against hers tightly–arms wrapped around her and that one of his hands brushed against her butt–she didn't want to let the sudden feeling go. She didn't want to let _him_ go. She had been feeling like that for quite some time. Longing for extra moments with him. Wanting him to see past her teasing and maybe sweep her off her feet. As much as she wanted to sew her lips together than admit the truth, he was right when he said that she was "jonesing for Jonesy." Dammit, Jonesy.

Once he released her from his hold, slowly and unwillingly, she asked him a question.

"What's up with the shoes?"

Not trying to choke on his tongue, he said, "Oh, I bought them just because."

She raised an eyebrow. "Just because?"

"Just because," he repeated, crossing his arms to appear more confident in his response.

She was skeptical, feeling there was a little more to the shoes than he led on, but let her reservations fly free. "So, you somehow managed to make my day better."

"And how would that be?" he asked, fully knowing what she hinted at.

Grinning, she said, "Through those texts you sent me, stupid."

"Oh, _those_." He was well aware that she called him stupid, but it was out of love (sometimes). It was somewhere between a pet name and an insult, depending on the circumstances. "You're just so irresistible that I _have_ to let you know it. Almost as irresistible as _moi_." His ego never had an off switch.

She shoved him out of his seat in a playful way. "Stop bullshitting yourself, Jonesy."

He couldn't give her a retort this time, seeing as he had a hard time getting off the floor. "Help," he whimpered.

She extended her hand to him. While helping him off the cold tile floor, she said, "You're such a ba–" Stopping mid-sentence, she saw a partially ripped tag under the table. She didn't say a word. Instead she deciphered the scattered words from the tag.

_ Jonesy. Special Girl. Xoxo. Enjoy the shoes._

"Nik, you okay?" he asked, parting her from her disbelieving thoughts. She hadn't spoken a word in a minute, not since she helped him into his seat.

Her eyes narrowed and she tried keeping her composure, her voice monotone. "I have to go. Crappy Barn duty calls."

As Nikki walked off, her reaction to the shoes gave Jade all the satisfaction she asked for. Part one of getting "Gonesy" has succeeded.

* * *

An hour passed and Caitlin stood outside Grind Me, waiting for Nikki to show up. She peered inside the shop to see Wyatt sitting at a table for two, checking the time as he waited for Jen. Caitlin turned around to find Nikki, dragging her feet on the ground, coming towards her. She did not look happy at all.

"Nikki, are you okay? Did something happen?"

She groaned. "No. Jonesy happened." Before Caitlin could open her mouth, she said, "It's not important right now. Let's just get Jen."

Caitlin nodded obediently. She took her phone out her purse and dialed Jen's number, placing it on speakerphone. As soon as Jen answered, Caitlin and Nikki yelled, "Come quick! Jude broke his leg by Grind Me!"

Alarmed, Jen yelled, "On my way!"

After hanging up, Nikki shoved her frustration at Jonesy aside, smirking at Caitlin instead. Caitlin smiled back. Jen was in for a surprise now. Like clockwork, she arrived at Grind Me, slightly out of breath and confused when she only saw Caitlin and Nikki.

"Where's Jude?" she asked.

Neither of them spoke. Caitlin took one of Jen's arms into her grip and Nikki took the other, dragging Jen into the coffee shop.

She began to protest and tried to break her arms free before stopping in her tracks. "What're you two–" She gasped. "Wyatt?"

He stopped drinking his chai soy latte. "Hey, Jen."

"It's about time you two talked," Nikki said as she and Caitlin placed Jen into the seat opposite Wyatt.

Jen didn't disagree or protest any longer. She sat in silence as her friends left, though she wasn't sure if she could call them that now. _I can't believe they did this_.

Wyatt initiated conversation after taking note of her every reaction to Caitlin and Nikki and seeing him. "I take it you didn't send that text to me."

"What text?" Her eyes widened. _Cait and Nikki tricked me! I should've known her crying was fake. __They're clever, I'll give them that._

"Never mind," he said.

Silence again. This was not the most pleasant of situations.

His heart almost beat out of his chest and his palms formed beads of sweat. Though a voice in his head told him to keep quiet, it was time for him to be brave and say what needed to be said. "Jen, I like you," Wyatt blurted out, surprising Jen–and himself–in the process.

She almost lost the ability to breathe after gasping. The only words she managed to say were, "You like me?" Her cheeks flushed deep red and she looked away, thinking, _Wyatt likes me! He _likes_ me!_

Jen didn't speak for a good minute and Wyatt began to worry. _I guess she just wants to be "just friends." I should__n't have said anything.__ Stupid, stupid, stupid, stu–_

"I like you too, Wyatt."

He stopped his verbally battery, looking at her with wide, lemur-like eyes. "You do?"

Saying it out loud forced her to come to terms with it. She _meant_ it. She was into Wyatt. More than just a friend here. She found comfort in this revelation, continuously nodding her head as she said, "Yes. I _do_ like you, Wyatt."

"Oh, thank God!" A sense of relief took over since the hardest part of their conversation was done. He bit his lower lip, reminding Jen of how he bit hers when they kissed. "So, Jen, do you want to go on a date?"–he fumbled–"W-With me, of course."

She smiled. Wyatt was kind of dorky in how he approached girls, including her, which was cute. "Of course I do, Wyatt."

"How about tonight at eight?" he asked after thinking his words through. "I hope that isn't too soon."

She reached her arm across the table, wanting to link one of her hands with his. "It isn't soon enough."

He took that as a "yes" and he reached halfway, causing their fingers to intertwine. They looked at each other with, not looks of shock like they did the previous night, but looks of affection. A risk definitely presented itself in being more than friends, but it was time for Wyatt to take more risks in life. It was time for Jen to take more social risks. Even if they risked it all, it was one worth taking together.

* * *

Thirty dollars was spent on some purple-tinted sunglasses, as if Jonesy needed any more to "blind the haters with," or so he had joked once before. Another fifteen was spent on some lipstick. It didn't matter how much money she spent. Okay, it did to an extent, since she didn't want to deplete her Toronto money, but Jonesy mattered. He mattered a lot in this ten-year-old's eyes.

For the second time that day, Jade walked to the food court and saw that the Lemon was closed for "shopping reasons," allowing her to leave her second gift for Jonesy. _Perfect_, thought Jade as she left the gift on the Lemon's counter and sneaked off in the distance, playing the waiting game again. Waiting was an art that she had perfected despite some kids her age being so impatient.

Caitlin strutted her way back to the Lemon with a single shopping bag in tow. She hummed some Britney Spears song as she opened the giant fruit, but stopped once she noticed a pair of sunglasses on the counter.

"Ooh, these are cute!" she said while picking them up. A tag fell and she grabbed it off the counter and read it aloud. "_From: your special girl again. To: Jonesy_." She gasped, even harder when she saw a huge lip print next to the letters _xoxo_. "I know that shade of lipstick anywhere! That's Ruby Seduction!" The only thing she was sure of doing was telling Nikki about this. She needed to know immediately what Jonesy might have been doing.

As she sprinted to the Khaki Barn with the glasses and tag in hand, several questions crossed her confused mind, questions like, _What does it mean "again"?_ and, _Is this why Nikki was mad __earlier?_ and also, _Did I close the Lemon before I left?_

Nikki practically jumped upon seeing Caitlin run into the "Crappy Barn" like a madwoman.

"Caitlin, are you okay? Or do I need to put you in a straightjacket?"

Ignoring her questions–especially since a straightjacket was "_so_ not hot"–Caitlin exclaimed, "Some girl left these for _Jonesy_!" She held out the sunglasses with the tag on them.

Nikki's eyebrows furrowed and her voice stressed one word with every fiber of her being. "_Again?_ Son of a bitch." She recognized some details on the tag from what she saw ripped on the ground earlier. The handwriting matched as she pieced together the words _special girl_ in her head.

"Again?" Caitlin repeated in a parrot-esque manner.

"Yes, again. This 'special girl' sent Jonesy a pair of sneakers earlier and he acted like nothing was wrong."

Caitlin frowned. "I feel so sorry for you, Nikki." She took a pause before asking one of the many questions on her mind, not wanting to come across as insensitive. "Do you think he's really... you know."

"Cheating?" In all truthfulness, Nikki didn't want to know the answer to that question. She wanted to believe that the relationship they shared was fine, but she would be lying to herself, wouldn't she? Nikki's facial expression softened, like she was allowing herself to be vulnerable for just this minute. She spoke, keeping her voice from trembling. "Honestly, it feels like it. And I need to go talk to him about this."

Caitlin nodded. "You totally should."

Nikki glanced–or rather glared–at the sunglasses in her grip and stormed off, determined to find Jonesy and receive the answers she was a little surer of wanting.

* * *

Jonesy hadn't talked to Nikki since the incident involving the sneakers. He just walked around the mall, confused and trying to figure some things out. Among those things was, _Who's this "special girl"__? _Because of said "special girl," _his_ girl won't even talk to him. That was the only thing he could figure out thus far.

A hand touched the back of his neck, but not in the playful way which it happened earlier. It was colder and intimidating. He turned around and, when looking down, saw Nikki in front of him. She had her arms crossed and judging from the expression on her face, she was _not_ happy. She uncrossed them and extended her hand with a pair of sunglasses towards him.

Her words killer-bee stung him. "Caitlin found these at the Lemon. Some girl left them for you."

He could only say, "Oh."

"_If_ you know what's going on"–she gave him the benefit of the doubt–"who is she?"

Jonesy threw his long arms into the air, shouting, "I don't know!"

He _sounded_ truthful. For now he did. If he knew "special girl's" identity, then he probably would have been stuttering or sweating; those were usually signs he was lying or hiding something important.

He never realized how much her brown eyes could bore through his soul until now. She continued to give him an aloof glare, then parted her lips to speak.

"Okay. I believe you–for now." She shoved the sunglasses into his hands and walked away from him for the second time today.

This was not the time to watch her hips switch away. He glanced at the shades in his hands– unsure of how to feel, unsure of where their relationship stood. Unsure of everything right now.

Having followed them around since Caitlin found the shades at the Lemon, Jade looked on, so sure of herself and where her scheme was headed. She was sure of _everything_ right now.


	4. Chapter 4: But Now I'm Falling

_A/N: "Falling" by HAIM suits this. Definitely._

* * *

Chapter 4: But Now I'm Falling

"Hold still!" Caitlin was applying Jen's makeup for her date with Wyatt, but Jen kept checking the time on her phone, not wanting to be late. She wanted to be early, in fact.

"I'm trying. I just want to be on time for the _date_ I have with _Wyatt_," she said.

Putting the finishing touches on Jen's smokey eyeshadow, she asked, "But isn't he supposed to pick you up?"

She watched Caitlin dig through the endless bags and kits of makeup she brought with her. This girl had enough eyeshadow and mascara to give the entire _world_ a makeover. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't be outside waiting for him."

Caitlin would have refuted that point, but it was April and the night air finally allowed for that to happen. She could tell that Jen wasn't just trying to abide by her super-organized itinerary. She was abiding by her nerves. "Jen, I know you're nervous about going out with Wyatt. And that's _okay_."

Luckily Caitlin hadn't smeared that red lipstick she had been eyeing over Jen's lips yet, so she was free to talk. "Maybe I am. This is a huge step in our lives. This is a huge step in _my_ life, Cait."

"Jen, you're one of the strongest people I know. This date with Wyatt isn't the end of the world and it won't be the end of your friendship. You and Wyatt are the _last_ people in the group that would ruin what you have over love."

She smiled; Caitlin didn't know how wise beyond her youthful years she sometimes was.

Caitlin was done deciding which shade of red would look better on Jen. She held up a tube of scarlet red lipstick and giggled. "Now let's see how this lipstick looks on you!" Then again, she was a little more trend savvy than most as well. "Pucker up!"

Jen pursed her lips like she was told. Once the lipstick was applied, she asked, "So where's Nikki? I thought she'd be here with us."

"She told me she didn't feel like coming anymore. She wasn't up for bumping into Jonesy around here."

This was confusing, at least for Jen. "Why doesn't she want to be around him? You and I were just saying the other day how they're one second away from saying _I love you_ to each other."

Caitlin bit her lip, thinking about what happened this afternoon. _I love you_ seemed like the last thing Nikki wanted to say to Jonesy, and for a very good reason. That didn't mean that Caitlin didn't want them to make up any time soon–she loved seeing the two of them together–even if Jonesy's gifts and his behavior didn't seem so honest. "Never mind that. You don't need any undo stress or your foundation will crack."

Jen shrugged it off. Some conversations with her always seemed to make its way back onto boys, shopping, or makeup anyway.

* * *

On his cellphone, Wyatt paced back and forth in his bedroom. It really just hit him that he was going on a date with Jen in less than forty-five minutes. And he was losing control.

His eyes almost bulged out his head. "Jonesy, I'm going on a date with Jen! As in my _best friend_ Jen."

Jonesy, on the other line, was the calm before the storm. "Uh-huh."

Wyatt was everything else. The pounding rain. The hail. The lightning. The tornado. The storm clouds. "Do you hear me? This is _Jen_."

"Calm down. Remember when you asked me if I really liked Nikki?"

"Yeah."

"Well, do you like Jen?"

Wyatt took a deep breath. "Yes."

"Then don't be a spaz, man. You've got to go above and beyond if you're gonna get outta the friend zone."

His lungs tightened. "_Great_ job, Jonesy. You calmed me down and freaked me out in the same moment!"

On the other line, Jonesy smirked. "No problem, man. Anytime."

Wyatt hung up on him with a little more frustration than he had intended. He couldn't help it. He was forty-five minutes away from what could be the start of something new. He couldn't be "just Wyatt." No, he had to be suave. When looking down at what he was going to wear before Jonesy got inside his head, he just felt lame. Jen wouldn't want to be seen on a first date with a guy in a long-sleeved black shirt and puke-colored khakis.

Who would _want_ to be seen dressed like that with a girl that great? He didn't.

It was time to go back to the drawing board, which seemed more like a cutting board at this point.

* * *

Jen's heart pounded against her chest. The doorbell rang and she knew it could only be one person (unless Nikki decided to show up after all).

Caitlin gave Jen a knowing look, practically giggling the words, _"It's time."_

As soon as Caitlin spoke (or rather giggled), Jen ran down the steps like a track star. Caitlin followed suit, but more like an excited mother on prom night wanting to meet her daughter's date. If Jen could, she would have ripped the hinges off the door just trying to open it, but she opted to open the door like a lady instead of a brute.

And there he was, looking suave in his navy blue suit and maroon tie. Upon taking a second glance at him, she noticed a reddish-pink lily in his hands. She smiled.

He smiled in return, saying, "I remember you said you liked lilies once before... I hope that hasn't changed."

"It hasn't." She gratefully took the lily from his hands and smelled it. "This is so lovely. Thanks, Wyatt."

Diego walked by with a bag of chips in hand, coughing the word _lame_.

Jen rolled her eyes. (Caitlin did too, then continued gazing at Jen and Wyatt from slightly afar.) "Ignore him."

"I'm already on it," Wyatt said. He proceeded to take Jen's hand and gently pulled her outside, leading her to the driveway where his car was parked. Ever since his dad gave him that car, it became (some of) his pride and joy. He always took care of that old car, which Jen admired. He was responsible, unlike Jonesy, who had racked up a couple speeding tickets in recent weeks.

"That's what you get for being a daredevil," she had told him when their parents found out about the tickets.

Wyatt wasn't a daredevil, which was quite alright. He was responsible and polite and respectful. He was _Wyatt._

As they prepared to leave to do whatever Wyatt had planned for them, Caitlin waved them goodbye. "Have fun!" she shouted while standing in the frame of the front door. _My work __here is done_, she thought. _Now it's time for_ me _to leave._

Jonesy, walking down the steps, saw Caitlin leaving and, approaching her, offered to walk her to her car.

Though he wasn't making any advances on her, she snatched away from him. This wasn't the first time she had turned her nose up at him that night, however. It was the umpteenth time at this point.

"C'mon, Caitlin. Why are you of _all people_ mad at me?"

"If you must know, I'm mad at you for Nikki, since she's not here."

As she walked out with her pink heels hitting the driveway pavement hard, Jonesy face-palmed himself. Nikki was mad at him, Caitlin was mad at him _for _Nikki, and he was pretty sure that Jen would be mad once she caught wind of this situation, if she hadn't already.

"This. Sucks."

* * *

When Wyatt had helped Jen into his car, the door accidentally slammed on her dress, catching some of its fabric in the door. After bringing this to his attention, he had thrown countless apologies her way while helping her out of the situation.

"Wyatt, I'm fine. You don't need to keep apologizing," she had said, although finding his apologies gentlemanly.

Ever since she spoke, they had been silent. Not for the entire car ride, though. As soon as the car stopped at the millionth red light, Wyatt took a look at her, just realizing that he hadn't fully taken in her appearance. That's when her beauty hit him. _Jen was stunning._

Her hair was styled exactly how it was at their school's winter formal. Her lips were painted in scarlet. Her eyes were surrounded by a gradient of grey and black, and unlike other girls he had seen wearing that kind of eyeshadow, she did _not_ look like a raccoon. (_Thank you, Caitlin!_ she had thought when looking at herself post-makeover.) He knew what she looked like underneath that makeup, and it just made her all the lovelier.

She wore a simple black dress, which hugged her slender frame appropriately. He didn't want to seem like a pervert, but her legs were so long. He found this girl to be so fit, in more ways than one and–

"So where are we going?" she asked while blushing from feeling the burn of his focused eyes on her.

He asked, "Huh?" He just fell off cloud nine.

"Where are we going? You never really mentioned it earlier."

"Oh right–that. We're going to White River," he casually said after calming down.

"White River? I heard that place is so hard to get reservations for! How'd you manage that on such short notice?"

He grinned cheekily, looking ahead after the traffic light turned green. "It's surprisingly not hard when you have a cousin who's a manager there."

She lightly hit him on the shoulder, but being careful enough not to startle him or make him swerve off-road.

He kept grinning.

* * *

They made it to the restaurant and, when walking in, Jen met Wyatt's cousin that he mentioned during the car ride there. He was the one who led them to their table.

Jen stood beside her seat as Wyatt pulled it out for her. His hands were shaky, still having nervous thoughts of Jonesy's words on the phone. (_"__You've got to go above and beyond to get out the friend zone."_)

His arms flinched and before he knew it, Jen yelped and fell onto the carpet. He quickly extended a hand out to her.

"Jen, I am so sorry! I flinched and–"

"Wyatt, it's okay. It was an accident." Back on two feet, she brushed any debris off her dress, slightly embarrassed. She knew she must have been falling for Wyatt, but she didn't literally think she'd be _falling over_ for him.

She may have been okay, but he wasn't. So far there had been two accidents on their date and it was two too many for him. One more slip-up and he would blow his chances with her, he figured. _Three strikes and you're out._

They ordered their food once their waitress came around. Jen opted for a Caesar salad (save the ranch dressing) and a glass of water, which she normally ordered when on a date with a complete stranger, not a best friend. Then again, this was a _date_ with a best friend, which meant no sloppy nacho eating and no soda. The two made some small talk until and after their food arrived, and it was less awkward than it was in the car.

However, awkward arrived not because of them, but because of an arguing couple at a nearby table.

The (ex-)girlfriend exclaimed, "You're so full of shit!" She threw her fork across the table and it nearly hit the man she was arguing with. The people around them carried looks of disgust on their faces; the restaurant _was_ packed with upper-class clientele (who could afford to eat there on a regular basis and were not spending a couple weeks' pay just to eat there). She nearly choked on her sobs. "I can't believe you would hurt me like that! I never would've cheated on you, Julian!"

The twenty-something guy stood up indignantly. "Nat, I didn't cheat! How many times do I have to tell you that?"

She threw her napkin on the table and stood up as well. "You don't have to tell me anymore. We're through!" She speed-walked away from the table in her heels, mascara running down her cheeks. (If Caitlin were there, she would have told her to wear waterproof mascara. "It helps in moments like these," she would have added.) On her way out, she saw Wyatt and Jen. Seeing how comfortable they were with each other, she sobbed, "Never fall in love. It only causes trouble."

Her now ex-boyfriend began to storm out, but not before stopping at their table too. He patted Wyatt on the back, saying, "Girls demand too much in a relationship anyways." He walked out, yelling after that woman. "Nat!"

Jen said, "That was... something."

He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah... something." She didn't look too comfortable any more, but neither did he. He didn't _feel_ comfortable. Not in the least bit. Though what that angry ex-couple shouted at them was as clear as blue waters, their words were cryptic nonetheless. He hoped, _"Never fall in love. It only causes trouble,"_ wouldn't become some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy for them. Or anybody else, really. The air thick with tension, he said, "I think we should get out of here."

Her shoulders relaxed and she let out a breath of relief. She smiled, her comfort wholly there. "Finally."

He couldn't help but smile back. That girl's smile was infectious.

* * *

After leaving that restaurant, which, in retrospect, was _not_ worth the money Wyatt had paid, they took a walk through a local park, hand-in-hand. Jen found it cute that he had such sweaty palms. Caitlin had mentioned once before that if a guy had sweaty palms when he was around you or holding your hand, he liked you.

Wyatt liked her, and it was nice. There was no other way to put it. It was nice because he was nice. He wasn't a jerk or a bad boy or stupid. He was smart, kind, and _never_ skipped school. _Ever._ Jonesy would make fun of him sometimes because he never cut class with him and Jude. (Then again, who didn't Jonesy make fun of? Who, in their circle of friends, didn't make fun of _Jonesy?_ Nobody.)

Jen liked Wyatt too, but she wasn't sure how much. They had only discovered these "feelings" for each other recently anyway. It was those words from that girl at the restaurant that had been haunting her brain like a ghost. She _had_ been against dating a close friend for a long time, constantly thinking that it would bring trouble. Jonesy and Nikki later seemed to defy that (in her knowledge). If they could survive a relationship with each other, being the most argumentative in their group, then any pair of friends could risk being together... right?

Her head became clouded by storm clouds and brightened with rainbows. This could either go really right or really wrong. (Really right was the better of the two, of course.)

There was no more time to think about really right or really wrong when a skunk ran across the trail they were walking along and sprayed them. Both of them yelled as they ran away.

The two of them, now smelling putrid, sat down on a park bench.

Wyatt asked, "Want me to take you home now?"

She nodded, now awaiting the infinite amount of showers that it would take to get rid of this odor.

* * *

The skunk smell wasn't so bad during the car ride home–it took some getting used to, just like Jude's now-lingering body odor–but Jen was eager to get rid of it. She knew her step-brothers were going to pester her about it for a few days.

At least Wyatt was courteous enough to walk her to the front door before entering a household of relentless jokes.

She faced him before opening the door. "I had a nice time tonight, Wyatt."

"I did too. Sorry about the car door… and the chair incident… and the skunk." He smiled meekly.

"It's _okay_," she stressed for the millionth time that night, "None of it was your fault."

He didn't want to counter her and say the chair incident was his fault, although an accident. If she was insisting that it wasn't his fault, then he would simply agree, albeit politely.

Even if she got sprayed by a skunk, it didn't affect her beauty and how he felt about her (now). Before he even knew what he was doing, he pressed his lips against hers, holding her face in his palms with care. In the minute that the kiss lasted, he felt like he was falling. And it was so worth it.

They parted and she told him _goodnight_, opening the front door. Upon closing it, she rested her back against it, blushing. It was their first kiss (that wasn't an accident). The feel of his lips against hers lingered. He was just as good a kisser as when they kissed at the mini-golf make-out night.

Mixed emotions, again. _Is kissing enough to bring us together?_ _Certainly. Of course. Maybe. __Sorta. __Err..._

To properly deliberate on it, this was going to take a night's rest (and infinite showers).

She walked up the steps, finding Diego and Robbie playing hallway hockey. They pinched their noses as soon as she walked in the middle of their little game.

"You smell like crap," remarked Diego.

She ignored them and headed straight for the bathroom, ready to wash off this night and this odor.


	5. Chapter 5: You're Not the One

_A/N: "Stay Away" by Charli XCX and "You're Not the One" by Sky Ferreira suit this chapter. Hope you enjoy it. xoxo_

* * *

Chapter 5: You're Not the One

"I hope I didn't scare off Jen when I kissed her last night."

Since they dropped by Burger McFlipsters, Wyatt had been telling the guys all about his date with Jen. Even long after he told them how everything went (in chronological order, of course), Wyatt had still been making comments like the one he just made every so often.

Jonesy said, "Don't be such a wuss, man." He grabbed a handful of the fries Wyatt had made and stuffed his face with them. After taking a gulp of his soda to wash them down, he continued talking. "Even if it wasn't all 'chocolates and flowers and cheesy love songs,' you gotta be confident and keep telling yourself that your date went well in order to believe it. It's called _fake it 'til you make it_."

Wyatt leaned against the counter. "I never said that the date _was_ all those things," he said, _those things_ being the _"chocolates and flowers and cheesy love songs."_

"And you never said it _wasn't_, either."

"I suppose so."

Jonesy stood up, leaving his empty basket of fry crumbs on the counter. "I'm gonna go get a coffee at Grind Me."

"Can you get me one?" Wyatt asked.

"No can do. I'm trying to get Nikki to meet me there so we can talk. If it all goes well, she won't avoid me anymore."

Wyatt raised a brow. "Still not speaking to you after yesterday?" (Somewhere in between Wyatt's date-talk, Jonesy told the guys about this whole _special girl_ scenario.)

"Nope, but I'm gonna change that. It's all in the charisma."

"And all this time, I didn't think you knew that word." Wyatt laughed, as did Jude.

Jonesy did not look amused. "Say what you want, but I'm gonna go fix what I didn't even break in the first place."

As soon as he left, Jade, who had been skating inside the fast food place for the past half-hour, asked, "Jude, can we skate some place else? I'm bored."

_Not_ bored–in fact, wanting to intervene this Jonesy and Nikki reunion. The final part of her plan just hit a snag. She didn't count on Jonesy trying to make up with Nikki, at least not so soon. Not this soon. She needed to do some damage control and take this part of the plan to the drawing board for some last-minute revisions. She didn't doubt that she could do it, though. If there was anything that Jade was, it was crafty and that certainly worked to her advantage. (That, and it would be easy to distract Jude long enough to pull whatever she was going to do off.)

Jude said, "Sure, mini-bra. Let's go!"

Jade sinisterly smirked to herself once they left. A last-minute effort was now in effect.

* * *

"I'm not even sure if I _like__-__like_ Wyatt. I mean, the kiss was really great"–she blushed while speaking about it–"but I just don't know. There's something in the way."

Just as Wyatt had been telling the guys about the date, Jen had been doing the same, the only difference being that she wasn't as head-over-heels for him as he was for her. And it was strange. Just a couple days ago, she liked him, but now she was in an emotional state of limbo. It wasn't Wyatt's fault and maybe it wasn't entirely hers either.

Caitlin, in the midst of making Jen some lemonade, had an idea about it. "Maybe it's _someone_ in the way."

Jen asked, "Come again?"

"Think about it: who were you with before you kissed Wyatt?" Caitlin knew the answer, but she wanted Jen to find it for herself.

_Oh God, Cait's right! It's _him._ It's totally– _"Travis! It's Travis that's in the way!" Jen sighed in relief. Continuing with this revelation, she explained, "It's not that I don't like Wyatt; I just don't want to jump in another relationship so soon. He was just a nice night out and maybe that's all I needed. Someone that wasn't Travis."

"You should definitely tell Wyatt how you feel. You don't want to lead him on," Caitlin said, now giving Jen her cup of lemonade.

She took a sip of it. "That's the last thing I want to do." Jen looked at Nikki, noticing that she was awfully silent, or at least more silent than usual. This, combined with her curiosity, prompted her to ask, "So, Nikki, what's this whole 'Jonesy ordeal' about?"

Nikki didn't even question how Jen heard about it, figuring Caitlin mentioned it. She took a swig of Jen's lemonade and, rolling her eyes at the thought of her boyfriend right now, decided they should know what was going on.

Minutes later, she was done telling them _everything._

"I knew you loved him!" Caitlin explained.

_Everything._

"But I don't know how to feel about him–and us–with all this shit going on. I haven't talked to him since what happened yesterday." Nikki frowned.

Caitlin resisted the urge of saying, _"Don't frown, Nikki. Frown lines are ugly and cause premature wrinkles."_ She opted to be more sympathetic (than she usually was in general) towards Nikki today. Instead, she said, "You guys'll work something out... hopefully."

"I'll definitely make a note to yell Jonesy's head off for you when we get home later," Jen said, causing Nikki to at least snort.

"Thanks." She stretched after hopping off the Lemon's counter-side stools. "I think I'm just gonna walk around for a bit. Hope you work things out with Wyatt." She walked away from the giant fruit, saying, "Later."

Caitlin and Jen said their goodbyes to her, and Jen followed suit. "I'm gonna find Wyatt and let him know how I feel." She grabbed her lemonade and began walking off. "Bye, Cait."

"Bye, Jen." Now lonely, Caitlin looked around the food court and sighed. The mall wasn't as packed today as it normally was. _There's nothing to do,_ she thought until something hit her. _But there's always Bradford._ She immediately took her cellphone out her purse and dialed his number. "Hey, Bradford, wanna meet me at the Lemon?"

* * *

Flipping burgers usually helped ease Wyatt's mind about stressful things, but not today. He wasn't under any stress (though he still wondered if he had kissed Jen on his own accord too soon). If anything, he was in bliss. Jen really was an amazing girl, which he had learned in greater detail last night.

It only made his heart soar even more when he saw her walking into the fast food restaurant, almost burning one of the burgers on the grill when focusing on her. She was dressed as usual–periwinkle hoodie, tank top, matching skirt, and tennis shoes–and not like _date-night Jen_ (which oddly sounded like one of Barbie's newest friends), but he didn't care. The girl could wear a trash bag like Missy Elliott in that one music video of hers and Kesha at that awards show and he still wouldn't mind. Although if she wore a dress made of meat, that would be a different story altogether.

"Hey, Wyatt."

Wyatt blinked hard, snapping out of his reverie. "Hey, Jen."

She trailed off, "So... about last night, we need to talk."

"Definitely," he said, not knowing that she was implying a different need to talk. (He was in the _fake it 'til you make it_ mentality.) Reaching across the counter, he took her hand. "Jen, I really like you and I had a great time last night. Would you want to go on another date with me?"

_Oh, God, __h__e's really into me!__H__e's going to be_ crushed _when I tell him._ She hadn't spoken in a minute and Wyatt began to realize that somewhere between last night and this morning, he had crashed and burned in her mind.

"You don't want to, do you?" he asked, his voice slightly upset.

_I feel _so _bad, but I can't date him out of pity. I have to be honest._ "Wyatt, it's not that I don't want to. I had a great night with you and, that kiss, that kiss was so sweet, but I think that's all it was–just a great night with an even greater guy. I like you, Wyatt, I really do. And that's why I don't want to lead you on and get us caught in something messy. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't want to jump into another relationship so soon."

He always admired her honesty. The rejection didn't sting as much coming from a best friend as it did from a girl he didn't know so well, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt him.

She smiled out of reassurance. He did as well. Being let down didn't change the way her smile affected him.

"Okay," he said, coming to terms with what she told him.

"We're still friends, right?"

"Of course. Always. Friends." _Always_ _friends__._

She kissed him on the cheek, making him smile again. She kept her hand in his, just so she could remember throughout the day how it felt to hold it, and he didn't mind that. At some point, she had to leave, so he let her hand go. _He let her go._

* * *

It was just as easy to ditch Jude as Jade thought it would be. A few skating tricks around some turns, a grind down the escalator, and playing with his spaced-out mind was all it took. She walked through a seemingly endless jungle of stores and restaurants and other places one wouldn't find in the average mall (even though the Galleria was _quite_ far from average) until she found Grind Me. She peeked inside and found Jonesy standing in its long line of customers. (Maybe that's where all the people Caitlin couldn't find in the food court were hiding.)

He was on his phone while waiting in the line. "Nikki, can you meet me in Grind Me? I really wanna talk to you."

_"__Hmm, let me think about it. No thanks."_

"Come on, Nikki! I'll buy you a coffee and everything."

_"__I've got better things to do. You're lucky I'm even on the phone with you right now. I could've hit ignore."_

Nikki was a pain in the ass sometimes, albeit _his_ pain in the ass. "Please just come. You don't even have to speak to me. I'll just get you a coffee."

She pondered it. _"__Get me a macchiato and we'll talk."_

"Will do. You're the best!"

_"__Yeah, yeah. See you in ten."_

While he hung up and waited, eager to get her back, Jade was eager (and anxious) to rewrite her plans to fit this situation. Before she could do anything, she had to check how much of her parent's money she had left. Taking the cash out her pocket, she still had thirty-five dollars left out of the hundred she was given. It was good enough.

Before going through with what she had in mind, she thought about it. _Who'd be dumb enough to kiss __Gonesy__ for ten bucks?_ She saw a teenaged girl sitting at a small table by herself. She was fairly attractive–long, almost never-ending blonde hair, brown doe-eyes, pasty skin. She was the perfect participant in what was about to take place.

"Excuse me, but do you see that guy over there? The one with the blue hair?" Jade was good at faking good. It worked well whenever she broke something around the house and had to explain it to her parents.

The girl initially looked skeptical. (Then again, a random eleven year-old girl coming up to someone in a coffee shop is not something that would happen on a daily basis.) But all it took was a glance at Jonesy to vanquish her skepticism.

She exclaimed, "That's Jonesy Garcia!"

"How do you know him?"

"He's one of my school's top hockey players... and he's cute."

"Oh, so you go to the same school as him?"

"Yep."

"Cool." _Perfect_, Jade thought. She smirked. "So, wanna earn ten dollars?"

* * *

"Hey there, Jonesy."

He looked over his shoulder to find an attractive blonde who appeared eager to speak to him. She looked familiar enough. "And you are?"

"Siobhan, also known as a huge fan of our school's hottest hockey player."

"Really? You go to Rockwood?" he asked, referring to their high school.

She nodded.

"Well, you're not too bad yourself," he said as he paid and got his cappuccino and Nikki's macchiato from the barista.

She whips her long hair over her shoulder and asked, "Really?"

As he walked closer to the exit (but not quite there yet), he said, "Yeah. You're hot."

Her smile resembled hoards of shiny pearls. "That means a lot to me, Jonesy." She stood in front of him, preventing him from going anywhere, but that wasn't what alarmed him. It was this: "I'm a special girl, after all. _Your_ special girl."

His eyes almost bulged out his head. "Wha–"

Before he could process any of it, she yanked him by his collar and forcibly pressed her lips against his, holding him in a tight embrace and refusing to let go. Maybe even suffocating him.

Jonesy managed to pull away from the girl as soon as someone said, "Son of a bitch."

He looked in the entryway of the coffee shop and there Nikki was. More than mad. More than hurt. More than livid. More than upset.

Rather _i__rate_, _g__utted_, _vexed_, and _betrayed_. All in the same instant.

In that instant Jonesy became acquainted with hell's fury, especially when he tried nearing her and gently touching her arm. "Nikki, I can–"

She backed away, fists clenched. "Stay the hell way from me." She stormed out of Grind Me. The lies and the hiding and the shameless flirting, she'd had enough of it all. Fresh tears welled up on her bottom eyelids, but she held them in. No weakness was allowed right now.

Jonesy, no doubt, ran after her. "Nikki, I'm sorry!" He grabbed her wrist once he caught up to her and she spun around, breaking it free from his gentle grip.

"I _believed_ you when you said you didn't know about _any_ of this!" She held the tears in, but her words choked her. Her eyes burned through him. "I believed you weren't cheating on me! I believed you weren't lying to me! But most of all, I believed _you_, Jonesy."

All he could do was watch in awe at her crying waterfalls in front of him, her purple mascara running. This was the first time he ever saw her cry this much. This was the first time he _hurt_ her this much.

He was finally able to bring his words together. "Nikki, I would never cheat on you. I _never_ cheated on you. That girl–I didn't even know her!"

She ignored him and spoke her mind, falling out of the reverie that was Jonesy Garcia. "I always knew you were a big flirt. I always knew you loved women. I always knew you were arrogant. But I could put up with that–"

He knew where she was going with this. "No, no, no," he mumbled under his breath, as if it would make a difference in how she felt. "Nikki, please."

She held up her index finger, daring him to cut her off again. "–I could _always_ put up with that, but not anymore." It was getting hard to breathe with her lungs being interrupted by uncontrollable, (what she considered to be) weak sobs. It was hard to see with vision so blurred by tears. "I'm through with you. _We're_ through."

Nikki did what she felt was right, no matter how much it hurt him (and her). No matter how much she loved him, she walked away. He didn't bother grabbing her hand and trying to make amends by pleading. He simply stood there, two slightly cold coffees in hand, ready to cry himself.

Just like that, he lost the only girl he had ever loved, his best friend.

Just like that, he hadn't done enough to keep her and she was gone. It was more than her witnessing a kiss from a stranger in Grind Me. It was everything, suddenly making him feel like nothing, like he was hollow.

All he could do was watch her walk away, dragging her feet in search of any place he wouldn't be. All he could do at this point was whisper under his breath, "I love you, Nikki," even though it wouldn't change anything.

Jade saw everything and it forced forty-eight hours worth of guilt upon her. She never meant to get Nikki out of the picture like this. Suddenly, she found herself not meaning to do _anything_ like this. She ran up to Jonesy, who was steadfast in where he stood, though not by choice. She had to tell him now or it would be too late (despite the fact she was staying in town for five more days).

"Gonesy, it was me."

He didn't respond, probably because he couldn't hear her.

"I did all those things. _I'm_ the one who got those gifts and put the tags on them and got that girl to kiss you. I did everything."

He blinked once and his eyes stung. He almost couldn't bring himself to look down at her. His voice cracking, he asked, "Why?"

"Because I've always had a massive crush on you and didn't want you to be with her."

For a moment, he lost control of his emotions, forgetting that it was a preteen girl he was talking to. "Maybe _I've_ always had a massive crush on _her_ and _wanted_ to be with her!"

She cowered. "I'm sorry, Gonesy. I never meant for it to be this bad."

He took a deep breath and calmed down. "Me neither." He began to walk aimlessly and in the process threw away their wasted coffee.

This wasn't Jade's fault entirely. She just shined the flashlight on the cracks in the foundation of their relationship. Right now, they were better being lost in the dark.


	6. Chapter 6: Deep in Black Roses

_A/N: "Ghost" by Kilo Kish and Childish Gambino or "Hold On" by Annie can accompany this chapter. Hope you enjoy it. xoxo_

* * *

Chapter 6: Deep in Black Roses

A week could made a big difference in someone's life, for the best or worst.

It had been a week since Caitlin began dating Bradford and, of course, she proclaimed him as "The One," which _everyone_ she dated had been at some point. He was no different, just a better kisser than the last guy she was with.

It had been a week since Jen told Wyatt that they would be better off as friends, which Wyatt still hadn't entirely gotten over. Though they would be "better off this way," every time he had the opportunity to look at her, he saw her as the gorgeous, wonderful girl that would not be his. His to kiss, his to hold, or his to have (romantic) late-night, phone conversations with. Of course they had talked and acted like nothing was wrong since, but the truth was that the latter was a lie. She wasn't worth moving on from in mere days, but he was trying. (Jen had been getting on with him just fine, or so she said she was.)

It had been a week that Jude hadn't done much in, actually. The only thing he did was drive Jade to the airport to meet up with her parents, who finally came back from "that town called Mexico," as Jude had put it. Jade tried making amends with Nikki and Jonesy before she left, but Nikki turned her away before she could even mention why whatever happened with Jonesy happened.

And it had been a week since Nikki broke up with Jonesy and it broke both their hearts. In contrast to Wyatt and Jen, the two of them had _not_ spoken since that day and she had (almost perpetually) been avoiding him. (It didn't take the rest of the gang a long time to figure out they had broken up, a day at max.) But just because they had not spoken didn't mean that Jonesy had not been making wordless efforts to get her back into his good graces.

Every day she appeared for work at the Khaki Barn, a black rose greeted her. Kirsten or Kristen or Chrissy or all three of them would let her know that "your boyfriend sent you some flowers." Hearing _your__ boyfriend_ for the first couple of days was like taking a bullet to the heart (though she never bothered to correct them, because that would be a window for them to butt into her love life).

For the first couple of days, those black roses would not-so-kindly make their way into the garbage, even if they were her favorite kind of flowers. But even then, she would find herself "jonesing for Jonesy" and it would make her feel sick how much she latched onto him and still held onto her feelings. Her pride would deny her the pleasure of living in the great, nostalgic reveries of him, but her love for him would keep growing like the proverbial rose from concrete. It ate her up, both those emotions, and it took her a few more days of damn near solitude and thinking to realize that maybe she would never stop loving him.

No matter how much distance manifested between them and no matter how much hurt had accumulated, it would always be _him_. Instead of the Clones shooting her with their inadvertent word bullets, it was her that shot herself with a bullet to the heart with her realization. The bullets they shot were just BB-gun pellets in comparison with hers.

* * *

"Is it just me or does love suck?"

Wyatt stared at the grey ceiling of the Garcia-Masterson living room. He looked like he had a few choice words for Cloud Nine right about now.

Instead of doing the homework they should have been doing since their return to school from spring break, they were conversing about anything and everything within the past week at Jonesy's (and Jen's) house. Luckily for Wyatt, Jen was going about her extracurricular school activities, which meant there was no chance they would bump into each other around there.

"Join the club," Jonesy said flatly.

Though in his head, Wyatt accepted Jonesy's membership offer. The Lonely Hearts Club now had two members.

"I think that love is pretty nice if you let it in. For instance, Starr and I might be getting back together." He smiled. They had been flirting off and on for a few days now. "She's not nerdy anymore, and she says she won't change anymore either."

"At least one of us is lucky. Meanwhile, I've been sending Nikki her favorite flowers every day and she still hasn't talked to me _or_ been within a mile radius of me."

Wyatt chuckled. "Maybe she doesn't like guys who get the idea to send flowers to her every day from a chick flick."

"C'mon, that girl I watched it with loved the idea."

"But she's not Nikki, is she?"

Jonesy glanced at him with a wistful look, replacing his annoyed one. "No girl is Nikki, and none of them will _ever_ be."

"You really love her, don't you?"

"You really like asking questions, don't you?" It was Wyatt's turn to give Jonesy an annoyed glance. "But I seriously love her, and having her hate me is the worst thing that I've ever felt in my life. Even if I didn't actually cheat on her and didn't know about all those things, I screwed everything up. The way she looked at me before she told me it was over, it just..." His voice cracked towards the end of the sentence, although he didn't cry at all.

Wyatt nodded solemnly, as did Jude.

"She doesn't hate you, dude," said Jude.

"You weren't the one looking at her that day. I saw hate. Like seventh-ring-of-_hell_ hate."

"Have you tried talking to her in person?" Wyatt asked.

Jonesy sighed. "No."

"Well, that's where you should start. The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

"The key word being _hell_, dude." He pursed his lips, in (far from deep) thought about something. "So what about you and Jen?"

"There is no _me and Jen_. If anything I need to get over her."

Jonesy had no advice this time around. He and Wyatt both just sighed.

Love issues sucked a lot.

* * *

The next afternoon was perfect for a stroll around the mall. Different methods of coping helped Wyatt through his issues with girls. Poetry helped him through his insane breakup with Serena (and all the events that followed). Ice cream and pizza, courtesy of Jen and Caitlin, helped him through his mutual breakup with Marlowe. He hoped this walk was going to help him through his non-breakup breakup with Jen.

The more he thought about it, the way he fell for Jen was so unintentional and euphoric even. A kiss so accidental gave him these feelings that lingered like a friend desperate for money (Jonesy, in essence). Even when it was time to let go–to let _her_ go–he still fully couldn't. He had to move on to show Jen that he wasn't hung up on her.

But maybe there was somebody else from that night at the mini-golf course that could ease his mind and distance him from Jen. Jonesy _did_ say, "To get over one chick, you gotta go to first base with a new one."

Minus the "first base" part, his words rung true. It was time to get over Jen with the perfect person.

Before he could fully work through the mechanics of it all and ponder if he was even sure about this, he found his feet walking in search of Albatross and Finch. _Time to move on_, he thought.

* * *

Jonesy had his elbow on the food court table, his chin resting in his hand. "How do I get Nikki back if she won't even talk to me?" he asked Jen and Caitlin, who were sitting opposite him.

"Jonesy, are you stupid?" Jen asked.

He was taken aback. "What?"

"You need to try harder than just sending her flowers every day, which you seriously just picked up from a chick flick."

He raised an eyebrow, asking her to go on with her idea.

Caitlin spoke instead. "Do something romantic and heartfelt. That stuff goes a long way." She started bouncing in her seat when she said, "Write a love note! They're so adorable!"

"Hmm, that's not such a bad idea." He quickly rose from his seat. "I gotta go do something. Catch you two later!"

As soon as Jonesy took off running, Bradford came up to the Lemon and approached Caitlin.

She grinned wide. "Hey, you!"

"Hey, Caitlin. Mind if we talk for a few minutes?"

She shook her head. "I don't mind at all."

Once she said that, he took her hand and pulled her away from the table and away from Jen.

* * *

Nikki got a call from the Clones to stop by the Khaki Barn. This annoyed her, especially on a day off, but she was (not entirely) willing to do so. She walked into the store and found Kirsten and Kristen standing near the cash register, waiting for her.

"Your boyfriend just sent this for you," Kristen said.

"He's been sending so many flowers lately. Like, he really loves you," Kirsten added.

"Yeah, he, like, _loves_ you."

Kirsten looked confused. "I don't get it though. Who would fall in love with _you_?"

"Maybe he's crazy."

"Maybe he's foreign and doesn't know better."

Nikki snatched the flower from Kristen's grip and asked, "Don't you two have anything better to do than comment on my love life?"

They looked at one another and declared, "No."

"Well, that's sad for you two. I, on the other hand, have other things to do. Later."

"Whatever, Nikki," said Kristen, who had Kirsten nodding in agreement.

* * *

She inspected the rose as she walked, it being different than the other roses she received from him. This one had a note attached with a rubber band. She took it off and unraveled the paper, recognizing his handwriting instantly.

_Nikki,_

_ I know I screwed up a lot and I'm sorry for that. I know I haven't been the most perfect guy when we were together, but I was hoping we can talk things out. I'll be totally honest with you. I just don't wanna lose my best friend and the girl I'm in love with. Can you meet me at my house at eight on Friday night? If you can, maybe wear a dress or something. If not, I totally get it._

_Sincerely,_

_Jonesy (a.k.a. the guy who's totally sorry)_

So many emotions fought to be the most important and most felt, similar to crabs climbing on one another in a barrel. He said that he's _in love with her_. That alone made her feel special, but in a way that only Jonesy could. But Friday? That was tomorrow. She needed almost all the time in the world to think about this. A little over a week ago, he broke her heart, and now she was contemplating getting back with him? This was such a stretch. And a dress? What did he have planned? Even if this was his first effort of reaching out to her since she broke up with him, should she even go?

Ten minutes into various questions during her walk, she bumped into someone quite familiar–the girl that made out with Jonesy at Grind Me, Siobhan. Interestingly enough, Bradford was by her side, his arm wrapped around her waist.

Nikki asked herself, _Can't get enough of other girl's boyfriends?_

"You–you were the one who kissed Jonesy last week at Grind Me."

She nodded quite regretfully. "I'm so sorry about last week. I didn't even know he had a girlfriend."

"So Jonesy's been cheating on me with you _and_ playing both of us?" Now she considered showing up at his house just to kick his ass.

"_Cheating_ with me? That was the only time I ever kissed him, and not because I really wanted to. Some little girl dared me to do it for ten dollars. She wanted me to surprise him and tell him I was a special girl of his. It was so not worth it now that I think about it."

Nikki blinked once. "Oh. Thanks for explaining."

"No prob." Siobhan tugged at Bradford and said, "Come on, Bradford. Let's go shoe shopping!"

Jade. Jade was trying to talk to her the day she broke up with Jonesy, but she turned her away before she could even speak. She didn't want to talk to a ten year old, let alone anybody else. But maybe that's what she was going to say. It seemed ridiculous that a little preteen would do all that, but she noticed that girl had a heck of a crush on Jonesy. But what really mattered was that it was Jade (for the most part), not Jonesy.

Nikki knew what she had to do now, one of those things being checking to see if Caitlin knew about Bradford being with another girl. _Probably not_, she thought.

Her phone rang and the caller ID flashed Jen's name.

When she answered, Jen said, _"Nikki, can you come to the Lemon? It's an emergency."_ Her voice became a whisper. _"Bradford just broke up with Caitlin and she's really depressed."_

In the background, Caitlin could be heard shouting lyrics to a song she blasted through her crying. _"YOU'RE NOT THE ONEEEEEEEEE! GUESS YOU'RE NOT THE ONEEEEEEEEE!"_

Jen asked in a less-hushed voice, _"Do you think you can buy some ice cream before you come?"_

"Sure. On my way," Nikki said before hanging up.

* * *

_Deep breath, Wyatt_, he said to himself as he approached Albatross and Finch. He was ready to do what he should have done after Jen put a hold on their romance. He was ready to be a courageous idiot.

As quickly as he walked towards the store, he found Cassandra, the greeter goddess he wanted to kiss instead of Jen (at first).

She smiled upon seeing him, which made him feel less apprehensive. Her smile was a treasure chest of pearls and her eyes were blue diamonds. "You're Wyatt, right?"

He nodded. "And you're gorgeous."

Her pale face flushed red.

"I was wondering, do you want to go on a date with me tomorrow night? I'll pick you up around eight, maybe?"

"You can pick me up _anytime_." She giggled as she took out a piece of paper and wrote on it. "Here's my number. Call me, maybe?"

He grinned as he took the small paper from her. "Definitely."

If he knew asking her out would be this easy, he would have done it a long while ago, before he fell too deep. Now it was time to climb back up.


	7. Chapter 7: You're the One

_A/N: "You're the One" by Charli XCX, for obvious reasons. Enjoy the final chapter! xoxo_

* * *

Chapter 7: You're the One

Caitlin rested her arms on the cold, food court table. "I'm through with boys."

"I think you've said that before, Cait," Jen kindly pointed out. "It's not that you're through with boys. It's just that Bradford wasn't _the one_."

"And neither were any of the guys before him."

Wyatt pitched in. "But that's no reason to give up on guys."

Caitlin looked at him. "Yes, it _is_. It's so not worth it anymore."

Jude said, "You're special, bra. I'm sure a Betty like you will find 'the one' soon."

She smiled in his direction. Guys like Jude made the hunt for the one worthwhile anyway. "Thanks, Jude."

"Anytime."

Jen, sensing a change in conversation, asked, "So what're you guys doing this weekend?"

Jonesy said, "I'm gonna win Nikki back tonight… hopefully."

"Yay! I hope you two get back together!" Caitlin exclaimed cheerfully.

Jude had found out what Jade had done concerning Jonesy and Nikki. Jude, not being the best secret keeper, told everyone else about what happened within a day–"That was so not cool of the mini-bra," he had said once he caught wind of it–which gave Jen and Caitlin more of a reason to hope for their reunion.

"What about you, Wyatt? Any plans?" Jen asked.

"Well, I _do_ have a date with that greeter goddess Cassandra tonight."

"Nice! She's a total babe," Jonesy said.

Jen and Caitlin shot him a look.

"Okay, she's hot, but you guys know how much I love Nikki."

Caitlin bounced up and down in her seat. "Ooh, you said you _love_ her!"

His cheeks flushed red and he stammered over his words. "Well–y-yeah, Nikki's lovable."

Jen gave a small smile. "I'm glad to see you moving on, Wyatt."

That was the first reference Jen made to their "non-relationship," especially around their friends.

"Thanks, Jen. I'm glad, too–you know, that I'm moving on."

She smiled a little wider. "I know."

He smiled too. The smiles they exchanged (and had exchanged) seemed to be a form of communication more than anything now.

A moment had passed and Caitlin decided to open up the Big Squeeze, whereas Jude decided to head to the game store. Wyatt and Jonesy–being off from work for the day or jobless for the day, respectively–tagged along.

Jen's plastered smile, which she had kept on for Wyatt, crumbled as the guys left. Nikki came to the table and took a seat next to her, who mumbled, "Wyatt moved on pretty fast."

Nikki and Caitlin exchanged knowing looks. They know what Jen was feeling. Oh, they _knew_.

"Ooh," Nikki teased, "is somebody _jealous_?"

"Yeah, Jen, you don't sound too happy about it," Caitlin said, chiming in.

"I'm _not_ jealous in the least bit. I'm _just_ noting that Wyatt has gotten over me quickly."

"Isn't that what you wanted?" Nikki asked–not harshly, but in a manner as if it was fact. Because it was fact.

Jen didn't give a response, but her silence still counted as one.

"You're still into him!" Caitlin exclaimed, jumping up and down in the Lemon.

"No, I'm not," Jen insisted. It only garnered deeper stares from her two friends. She eventually caved. "Okay, I may like him like that a _little_ bit. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Uh-huh," Nikki said skeptically.

* * *

Wyatt looked at himself in his bedroom mirror, wondering if he was doing the right thing–going out with Cassandra. A part of him said, _Of course it's fine. You'll be fine. This is you–Wyatt Williams–moving on._

Another part of him called himself a wuss. Then again, that part sounded like Jonesy, managing to invade his system like a parasite.

He took a deep breath and counted to ten. As he released his breath, he felt more at ease. Like he could do this. Like he could go through with this night. Like this night would be magical. Like he could kiss Cassandra and it would be magical.

Then Jonesy's voice called him a wuss again for saying the word _magical_.

* * *

Jen paced around her room. She had been doing this for the past half hour, drowning herself in an ocean of Wyatt.

_Wyatt's a really sweet guy. He's always been sweet. Not like Jude isn't sweet or anything, but he and I would never be compatible like that. Just a friend. But Wyatt… Wyatt isn't just a friend. __He_ shouldn't_ be just a friend. Oh, God, Caitlin was right. _I'm still into him. _And I friend-zoned him.__ I __need to talk to her, __like, now!_

Immediately, she reached for her phone and dialed her number. She anxiously held her breath until she heard a voice on the other line.

"Jen?"

She exhaled. "You don't know how glad I am that you picked up."

"Are you okay? You don't sound so good."

"You were right–I freaking like Wyatt. I'm so into him and I don't know what to do!"

Caitlin squealed, causing Jen to pull the phone away from her ear. "You're into him! _EEE!_"

After placing the phone against her ear in caution, she said, "Caitlin, this is serious. I need some advice on what to do."

Caitlin switched her tone at Jen's request. "You need to tell him how you feel before he falls for Cassandra."

"Wait–you mean, crash their date?"

"I wouldn't put it like that. Make it sound more romantic…"–she swooned at the thought–"Ooh, you should storm in there and declare how much you like him and won't take _no_ for an answer."

"As crazy as that sounds, I'm gonna do it."

The other line went silent before Caitlin decided to speak again, this time in a more hushed way, as if her words were taboo. "Is he _the one_?"

That one question triggered so much emotion. She soared at the thought. Maybe she felt all this now because it was there all along. Hidden. Dormant. Latent.

Could feelings even _be_ latent? It began to appear that way.

"So..." Caitlin trailed off.

Realizing that she hadn't responded yet, Jen nodded and said, "Yes. Wyatt's _the one_."

"_EEE!_" she squealed.

Jen almost threw the phone away from her ear. "Can you stop doing that, please?"

"Sorry." Caitlin giggled sheepishly. "I'm not going to hold you up any longer so you can go get Wyatt!"

And for once in this past week, Jen spoke like she meant it, with so much sureness. "I'm gonna get him. I'm _going_ to get him."

Exchanging their goodbyes, she and Caitlin ended their phone conversation. Before she got up, however, to drive to wherever the hell Wyatt and Cassandra were having their date, she needed to do one final thing. She dialed someone's number and crossed her fingers once the rings kept sounding.

"Hello?"

She had some sort of power over people's cellphones today, thank goodness. "Hi, Travis."

"Jenny?"

"Yeah… Do you have a moment? I mean, you're always so busy and–"

He laughed a bit. "Yes, I have a moment. What's on your mind?"

"Travis, I just want you and me to have some sort of… closure. I met a guy I _really like_ and I want to be able to move one without leaving what you and I had in some awkward state."

"I totally get that. To be honest, I've started seeing someone else too."

She breathed easier knowing it wasn't just her attempting to make a change. "That's great. You know, that we're both moving on."

"Jenny, you know you'll always be special to me. And I know we ended sort of quick, but can we still be good friends?"

"Of course we're friends, Travis."

Just friends with _the right one_.

* * *

The warm, mid-April air breezed Jonesy's hair as he stood outside the front door, more specifically on the steps leading up to it. He pushed a sleeve of his suit back to check the time on his watch. It was five past eight o'clock.

Sitting down on the front steps, he figured Nikki wouldn't show up. And he had no reason to complain or blame her for it. He screwed up and it was only him to take the fault (and the fall) this time.

He nearly snapped his neck looking up as soon as he heard a car. It was Nikki's car, that "heap of crap" car her mother gave her. It may have been a "heap of crap," but never had he been more happy to see it parking in front of his house.

He sprung to his feet but remained on the steps. She stepped out her car and walked up the spiral walkway looking magnificent–in a purple dress that made her look curvaceous in all the right ways (and a pair of Converse).

As she walked towards him, all he would say was _wow_.

She teased, "That's all you can say after I dressed up for you?"

He couldn't help but to smile. "You look gorgeous, Nikki." Almost forgetting about a purple rose in his grip, he handed it to her. "I haven't gotten to do this in person, so here."

She took it from him and smiled softly. "I have enough of these in my room as is."

"So you got the flowers I sent?"

"I threw the first couple in the trash when I was pissed. Would've set them on fire if I could've."

He winced, but reminded himself that she had every right to burn his shit. Instead of saying something, he nodded in agreement.

"Listen, I know we're not here to joke about setting flowers on fire and shit." She looked away. "I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions and everything. I found out that it was all Jade and I–"

"–It wasn't just Jade, Nik. It was still my fault. I wasn't honest with you and you were right to be angry and sad." For once, he owned up to his problems. It wasn't like him to admit his faults so easily, but here he was. Doing it for her. "I hurt you and I'm so sorry for that."

His hand caressed her cheek. She gently took it away and started playing with his long, tan fingers. Her hands were so small in comparison with his much larger ones. Everything about him was larger in comparison to her. It made her feel safe yet vulnerable, because someone that large had the power to protect and hurt. He loved that she was so much smaller, because it _gave_ him something to protect. She was never weak or fragile, always taking up for herself, but she was someone worth fighting alongside and shielding.

For a moment they stood there, protecting and being protected.

She lifted her head off his chest and looked into the warm brown eyes she missed seeing (though she was too stubborn to admit it).

He missed her brown eyes too, but he was fully prepared to admit it.

"I missed this."

She gnawed at her bottom lip. "So did I."

He wrapped an arm around her waist. "I know I hadn't been the best boyfriend in a while, and I wanna be better… for you. Nikki, I'm in love with you."

Her heart began to pound against her chest, causing her to think, _Quit it_. Reading about him being in love with her was one thing, but hearing it being said to her right now was another story. It was everything she needed to hear from him (aside from his apology). "I'm in love with you too, Jonesy. She looked away for a split second, feeling herself blush. "Dammit, I _love_ you."

She placed her hand at the nape of his neck, catching some of his blue hair in her fingers.

He purred (which wasn't unusual to hear whenever she played with his hair).

She laughed as they leaned towards one another. The heels of her Converse-clad feet hovered a few inches off the ground as she stood taller so her lips could meet his. He gently held her hips as they kissed.

She wasn't just kissing him, she was kissing the guy she deserved. The one she wanted to be with. The one she wanted to love. The one she already loved. The one whom she wanted to love her back. (And he did.) She was exchanging a week's worth of pain for a minute's worth of affection.

* * *

Jen ran across the hallway and into her parents' bedroom, in search of her stepdad's car keys. She looked desperately through every and any drawer. She _would_ have grabbed the keys to the van, but her mother and stepfather were riding around with Robbie, Diego, and baby Emma.

Damn. His keys were nowhere to be found.

She stopped in her tracks. _Wait a second–Jonesy! Jonesy has them!_

She ran, almost falling down the steps on the way, through the front door to find Jonesy making out with Nikki near the driveway.

_ At least _one_ relationship problem is solved._

Jen walked towards them, cringing slightly when Jonesy planted a kiss on Nikki's neck.

His eyebrows furrowed when he saw her. "What do you want, Jen?"

"The keys to dad's car–_now_."

"_What? Why?_ But it took me _forever_ to get to drive this! I'm supposed to take Nikki out for dinner!"

She yanked him by his tie. In the calmest voice, she said, "Listen–I _have_ to tell Wyatt how I feel right now because I think I make the biggest mistake _ever_. You got your happy ending, let me have mine."

His eyes wide, he nodded (mostly out of fear). (She would turn into the _She-Hulk_ if she got any madder.)

Once the keys were in her grip, she asked, "Now, do you know where Wyatt's supposed to be on his date?"

Again, he nodded. "Yeah, he said he's going to El Sporto's–the one downtown."

"Thanks," she said as she walked to the car.

He practically cried as she got in and sped off. That should have been his car to speed off in. That should have been his _The Fast and the Furious_ moment.

"My Porsche. My beautiful Porsche," he whined.

Nikki reluctantly pat him on the back. "There, there, you big baby–" She smirked. "–You can drive me wherever you wanna take me in _my_ car."

He sighed, knowing that he wouldn't get to drive that car at all tonight, and settled for her car. "I guess." He looped an arm around her waist as they walked down the driveway.

"So how did you know that I'd even show up and get back together with you?" she asked as they neared her car.

"I didn't know. I just hoped for the best, I guess."

She kissed him on the cheek after he opened the car door for her. "You guessed right."

* * *

The only thing that worked out for Cassandra was that she was attractive. Every other sentence was littered with _like_ and _um_ and focused solely on fashion and jewelry and makeup and cute animals. Sure, Caitlin talked about those things, but she had depth and personality. This girl lacked those things.

And it was only _twenty minutes_ into their date.

Wyatt managed to find the second thing that worked for her. She was nice, at least. It could have been worse. She could have been Tricia.

As she ate her plain salad, devoid of any ranch dressing, she continued to talk about nothingness.

"…There was, _like_, this cute miniskirt I saw when I was out with my friends and I thought, _like_, it was totally me!"

Okay, so that wasn't exactly what she said verbatim, but it was close enough.

On his date with Jen, they had an entire conversation through debating each other's favorite bands, and it was right up his alley. On this date, Cassandra had a single-sided debate on why velour is better than spandex. While not trying to be rude, he had no idea how to show intrigue in this.

On his date with Jen, they were able to grow closer in silence, filling the wordless gaps with body language. On this date, every silent moment was only an opportunity for more awkward one-sided conversations.

He wanted someone better and exciting. He wanted someone who could be his best friend and his girlfriend. He wanted someone he had chemistry with. He wanted _Jen_. She was that someone.

He felt badly for thinking so much about Jen when out with another girl, but anytime he thought of what he sought after in a girl, it was only her that came to mind. But she pushed him away and he may have pushed her down.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid–_

"Wyatt, are you okay?" Cassandra asked, with her head tilted to the side.

He sighed. "I'm fine."

* * *

Jen sprinted into the El Sporto's and almost ran into the area with the booths and the bar and the tables until a waitress stopped her. The one that's always working the one at the Galleria Mall. She was dressed as a lacrosse player today.

"Do you need a table or something?" she asked.

Almost out of breath, Jen said, "No. I need the best friend that I _really really_ like and, though he's on a date with another girl, he needs to know!"

The waitress put her hands up defensively and let Jen walk through the restaurant until she could find Wyatt.

She marched around until she found him (and Cassandra) sitting at a booth.

He dropped his fork onto his plate when he looked up. "Jen?!"

"Wyatt, who's she?" Cassandra asked, her head tilted to the side again.

"_She_ is this guy's best friend who is too into him for her own good."

Ignoring Cassandra's confusion, Wyatt asked, "You mean that?"

She felt the heat in her cheeks rise as she said, "Of course I mean it, Wyatt."

He stood up and now they were face-to-face, not talking, but making eye contact.

"Wyatt, I think I'm gonna go home now," Cassandra said as she hopped out her seat.

"Okay. I'm sorry things didn't work out between us."

Instead of baring her teeth at him and getting angry, she smiled a little bit. "It's fine. I think you need her more than you need me."

"Thanks for understanding."

At least she was nice.

As soon as Cassandra left, it was just Jen and Wyatt. _Just Jen and Wyatt_.

"Jen, I really like you. You've been the only one on my mind lately. I'm sorry if things got confusing."

"Wyatt, we're sixteen–_everything's_ confusing."

He raised an eyebrow. "So, does this mean–"

"–that we're together now?"

"I mean, we can be if you want to."

"After everything we've gone through, I think it's fair."

She smiled at him, causing him to smile as well. Everything about her was infectious. Including her kiss. And so they stood in middle of the aisle, kissing each other like their lives depended on it. At least for now.

"I think we should go on a real date," Jen said after they parted lips.

"Tonight's as good a night as ever."

She linked her hand with his. "Definitely," she said as she looked into his eyes.

As they walked out the restaurant, holding hands, she knew she became something more with the right guy after all. After all they've been through in the past week, she found the one (hopefully). He was definitely the one for now. He'd be that way for a long while.

_Jonesy got his happy ending and I got mine_.


End file.
